Many 20-somethings are working hard, beginning adulthood and figuring out how to live their newly independent lives, and local 24-year-old Tatum Lyon is no exception. Lyon is holding down three jobs; working and living here in Malibu.
But, while located here physically, her heart is far away, on the other side of the globe, in Ghana. Specifically, her heart is with hundreds of Ghana’s orphaned children, and she is nearly single handedly building a new orphanage to help save their lives.
Lyon, who has lived in Malibu for the past five years, always knew she wanted to work with children, perhaps as a teacher, but, as she puts it, “maybe not the academic kind.”
At her 21st birthday dinner, local Malibu personality and former city council candidate Kofi handed her an envelope that she said changed her life. She explained that Kofi knew she was struggling with what to do with her life, and that he recognized something in her that she didn’t even imagine.
“In the envelope, he wrote that his gift to me was to send me to Ghana for not one, but six months, to live and work in an orphanage,” Lyon shared. “I was shocked. He had even called my mom to ask her if it was OK.”
With her plane ticket in hand, Lyon scrambled to get a passport and then began a life-altering journey.
During her stay in Ghana, Lyon said her eyes and heart opened wider than they ever had.
“I fell in love with the children that only had love to give me, and not just the children of the orphanage, but the neighborhood children and street children, too,” Lyon explained. She called these children the most giving, grateful, hardworking, intelligent and spiritual people she has ever met. She said the children taught her how to live in the harshest of conditions — to wash clothes by hand, make a scarcity of food last and to live without water or electricity for sometimes weeks at a stretch, which happens frequently in Ghana, due to its lack of a well-working electric and water system.
What Lyon saw in Ghana was that the needs of the orphans could not be met, and that there were hundreds of kids being turned away from orphanages with nowhere to go due to lack of space and support. The children lucky enough to be cared for by an orphanage still struggled with overcrowding and lack of basic needs, especially medicine.
“I never would have been able to image a child not being able to receive medicine when he or she is suffering,” Lyon said. “I was so troubled by the intense mix of feelings that I had. These incredible kids were like rays of sunshine with a storm cloud constantly trying to block them away.”
When her six-month stay ended and Lyon came home to the U.S., she said that returning to her comfortable life was harder than leaving it behind, and she vowed she would return to Ghana and make a difference.
Keeping to her promise, Lyon is using her moxie to build a new orphanage that will house 40 children. She has already received a sizable donation from local businessman Fred Segal.
After nearly being tricked into buying land from local tribesmen that wasn’t theirs to sell, Lyon made a down payment on the land for the Love One Another Children’s Home, and paid for medical insurance, school uniforms, water and food for 68 children.
“I wanted to use this money to plant a seed into something that could grow to help many more,” Lyon said.
She set up a nonprofit called People Helping Children that is dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned and abandoned children throughout the world. Local architect Ron Aarons has donated plans for a sustainable building, using solar electricity and its own water supply. Children will be provided with food, and medical and school supplies.
A fundraiser recently took place in Malibu to raise money for the endeavor. Lyon shared that people in Malibu have been very supportive of her work to find a solution to what she terms a chronic problem for the West African nation.
Lyon explained that every little bit helps to make a huge difference in the lives of these children.
“The fascinating thing about it all is that I thought I was going there to change the lives of these children, but they changed mine as well,” Lyon shared.
For more information, visit peoplehelpingchildren.com.
